We, as residents of this camp, have no control here because the City has disempowered us and stood by while drug-dealers have invaded the ‘temporary’ relocation area.

Yesterday morning, two adults were shot in broad daylight by three gunmen. Yesterday evening, a revenge shooting took place and three more people were shot and are now in hospital. One of those shot was a teenage boy, a member of the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers. Some people have been arrested but all the residents of Blikkiesdorp know that this is only the beginning as revenge killings are likely to continue in the weeks to come.

We as the Symphony Way and wider Blikkiesdorp community have complained to the City of Cape Town and the police about the invasion of our community by drug dealers but it seems that they do not care. They always present us will plans about what they will do – yet they end up doing nothing! Two years ago, when we came to Blikkiesdorp, the High Court ordered the government to build a satellite police station in Phase 2 of Blikkiesdorp – yet that building that building today remains a white elephant.

Our complaints are falling on deaf ears. We need to know what the City of Cape Town and the police are going to do about the crime here – or must we all die before they actually do something?

We were safe on Symphony Way because we, the people, controlled our own communities. The City of Cape Town created this monster by putting us in government shacks that they control from their offices in town. You can’t bureaucratically manage a community of 15,000 from fancy offices 40 kilometres away. They must now all come to Blikkiesdorp. We challenge them to live here until they solve this problem. Perhaps then, they might understand how their inaction kills us.